


absence

by lowpolyzoe



Category: Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Based on general headcanons, Ivor and Harper as FRIENDS, M/M, Minecraft: Story Mode, Portal network bullshit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-29
Updated: 2017-07-29
Packaged: 2020-11-28 21:27:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20973308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lowpolyzoe/pseuds/lowpolyzoe
Summary: Ivor stumbles across a book in Harper's laboratory that sparks a conversation, revealing there just may be a way to track down Soren again.





	absence

**Author's Note:**

> 'ello, this is just one big fanfic - not split up into chapters, so sorry about that. However, this is a completed work! I hope you enjoy.  
This fanfic was written in mid 2017 but it never got uploaded anywhere besides tumblr, so I have decided to upload it here for archival purposes.

absence

Harper was busy in her lab, carefully unloading all the materials she'd collected over the many many years alone, hoping to eventually use them to rebuild Crown Mesa and start up some farms to feed everyone. She’d begun to try and get more water in from an ocean world with the help of a few understanding friends. Though, she felt the process was going to take forever, and a part of her could feel she wasn't welcome. The occasional side glance, the way some people refused to make eye contact while she passed, the way they seemed to walk just a bit faster.

Ivor sat at her desk surrounded by bookshelves, packed tightly with as many books she could cram in. He was glancing over the spines of each book and reading the ones that interested him. Although, a lot of the books were rather boring…

The Redstone Heart

Ivor's eyes were drawn to it. He hadn't looked at it, but Harper had assured him it was something like building instructions, like a manual and it wouldn't interest him.

He was a little bored, though, and decided to slide it out of the tightly packed bookshelf, taking it in his hands and peering at the cover.

The front cover had the title, but Ivor's eyes widened as he spotted some familiar handwriting as well on the cover.

By Soren

“S-- Soren?!” Ivor yelled in sudden shock.

“A familiar name?” Harper called back to him.

“I-- I knew him!” Ivor almost couldn't believe what he was holding. “He helped make the Redstone Heart?!”

Harper paused before walking over to him, grabbing a chair to sit down with him. “I haven't seen him for… a very very long time…” She exhaled.

“I haven’t seen him in a long time, either, but… Not any longer than a year…” Ivor murmured, beginning to flip through the book. It was endless lines and strings and indecipherable diagrams of the various parts.

“That’s pretty recent…” Harper commented. “But, tell me when you first met him, I’m curious.”

\--

The world was quiet as Ivor knelt in a patch of grass and picked some flowers and herbs. He had a little woven basket with him, intent on taking as much as he could. Whatever could be crushed down into potions. The wind was blowing through the tree leaves, causing him to shiver all of a sudden.

He stood up and peered around the area. Just trees. Trees, grass, a few mushrooms on the ground. The clouds passed in the sky as usual, the sun shining down. There was another gust of wind, whipping his hair. Everything looked normal, but…

Something felt off.

...but what?

A part of Ivor told him something was about to break. Or everything. He had worried thoughts like this sometimes. He looked up at the sun, staring intently. Was that normal? It looked normal. Fine. Hopefully.

He knelt down but still felt something was distinctly wrong. He tried to ignore it, tightening his grip on the basket as he grabbed a clump of moss from the ground and dropped it in the pile of grasses and herbs.

Ivor jumped as he heard a yell and a heavy thump from behind him.

He turned around quickly, tucking his long black hair behind his ears and staring down at what suddenly hit the ground, taking a few steps down to a man laying on the ground who had seemingly materialized out of thin air.

Ivor leaned over him, staring down at him. He had ginger hair, along with a beard and moustache of the same colour. He was wearing some sort of butler outfit, but what was most intriguing, was the fact he was clutching an orange block with flashing lights on it. He immediately noticed the air appeared to be pulsating in his ears…

The man slowly opened his eyes, looking up at him with a confused expression.

“...Hello there.” The man spoke, laying still.

“Greetings.” Ivor replied, a little confused as to what had just happened right in front of him.

“Um, where am I…?” The man asked, sitting up and looking around the area at the woods surrounding them.

“East Forest.” Ivor explained, looking at the block in his hands. “Seem familiar to you?”

“N… no…” The man confessed and sighed. “Just my luck.”

“Um, do you have a name…?” Ivor asked, rather curious.

“Oh, where are my manners…” The man got to his feet, putting the strange block into his back pocket and presumably in his inventory. “My name is… Soren.”

“Soren…” Ivor repeated. “What an interesting name.”

“Is… is that a bad thing?” Soren seemed to shuffle awkwardly on the spot, his feet turned in.

“No, it's a fine name.”

“No, that's a compliment.”

“It's a pretty weird name.”

“...”

“No, not at all. It’s a compliment.” Ivor assured with a faint smile. “Although… you just materialized from thin air, didn’t you? Did you just spawn?”

Soren paused for another second before saying, “Yes. I did. I think.”

Ivor lightly gasped. “I… I never thought I’d witness someone spawn…” He jumped a little in the air, his hands covering his mouth excitedly. Soren appeared to look down at his feet.

“I suppose since you don’t have a place to go… you could follow me to where me and my friends are.” He suggested, picking up his basket that he’d left on the ground, briefly checking he still had everything there.

“That would be wonderful, thank you…” Soren seemed relieved.

\--

“You just assumed he spawned, huh?” Harper murmured as Ivor finished up his story.

“I never would have thought he’d just fallen out of the portal network…” Ivor replied, kind of shocked. “He’s just completely vanished from our homeworld, too… I checked both the End and the Nether, but, nothing.”

“You want to go look for him, don’t you?” Harper leaned against her chair.

“I… would very much like to.” Ivor confessed. “I actually tried the portal atlas to try and find him before coming back to Crown Mesa to find you…”

“The portal atlas didn’t work with locating him...?” Harper murmured.

Ivor took it from his inventory, staring at the glowing blue cover, the covers having been reinforced with gold. “It didn’t… Maybe this thing isn’t as powerful as you say it is…”

“Should we head out now? I’m kind of itching for adventure.” Harper got up from the chair with a smile on her face, going to her chest of adventuring gear.

“Oh! Of course.” Ivor got up as well, quickly checking he had everything and excitedly jogging on the spot.

\--

“Atlas, take us to the Great Library.” Harper’s voice echoed throughout the hall as she spoke the words to the book, before opening the cover to release a stream of runes through the air towards one of the portals.

“The Great Library?” Ivor asked, curiously as she began to lead him down the hallway.

“The Great Library is a strange world where a copy of each book that’s ever existed is held.” Harper explained, tucking the Atlas under her arm. “We wrote a guide to using the Portal Atlas, and if we could find that book, we could find out how to track Soren, or why we can’t track him.”

Ivor wondered what this library could contain before pausing for a moment in his tracks, realising something.

“Did… did you somehow know Soren before I knew him? But, he had just spawned in my world…” Ivor suddenly thought out loud.

“I’m pretty sure he didn’t spawn, Ivor, I think he had just fallen out of the portal network and didn’t want to sound crazy…” Harper laughed.

\--

The portal to this Great Library was of course bookshelves with a swirling white distortion in it. 

“Here we are…” Harper walked inside, Ivor following after her.

It was short but disorientating, but they shortly dropped onto a stair landing platform with a red rug. The air was silent. Ivor got up, wincing at his knees before looking down to see a dark wooden staircase, leading down to a seemingly endless labyrinth of books that stretched as far as the eye could see. The furthest he could see just faded into darkness. The roof was carved with beautiful endlessly stretching patterns.

“I have a question?” Ivor asked, looking at Harper beside him who was getting to her feet. “How are we supposed to find one particular book in this place?!”

“Just… Trust me.” Harper walked down the staircase into the labyrinth of books, lit by warm oil lamps. Ivor reluctantly followed her.

The endless books and warmth were oddly comforting. It would be nice to just get lost in here, assuming he knew the exit… Harper wandered a bit with Ivor following until they reached a small lounge with some lamps, comforting old couches, and flowerpots on small tables. Stacks of books were on the ground…

“Excuse me…” Harper cleared her throat as she entered. “I need help looking for a certain book, please?”

The blue image of a person sitting on one of the couches faded into view, sipping some tea with a book in hand. She looked up at Harper and smiled, putting it aside as she got up. “Harper! Hello!” She had a welcoming smile. Ivor couldn't help but notice she seemed to be drifting in midair…

“Ivor, this is one of my old writer friends Susan.” Harper introduced as the woman floated closer. Her hair was tied into a bun, and she was wearing a cardigan and a knee length skirt of sorts.

“It's nice to meet you!” Susan smiled down at Ivor, due to floating she was a bit taller than him.

“Um… Are you a spirit of sorts?” Ivor asked, a teensy bit confused. “...no offense.”

“I am…” Susan nodded. “No offense taken.”

“Could you take us to where the Portal Atlas guide is?” Harper asked the ghost woman.

“Of course! We need to catch up, too, I haven't seen you in ages…” Susan made friendly conversation as she began to lead them down one bookcase hallway.

“You see, Ivor, this place is protected by the spirits of authors with a true passion for their work. They spend their days here reading and guiding visitors to the books they want.” Harper explained to a rather puzzled Ivor.

“Ah… that makes a bit more sense.” Ivor thought this place was rather fascinating…

“There's a Command Block somewhere in this world, encased in bedrock that tracks every book to have ever existed and copies the contents into books here. That way, every book, journal, and short story can be collected here.” Harper was kind of in awe of it herself.

Susan lead them to a certain bookshelf and carefully pulled out one book, handing it to Harper. “Here you go!”

“Thank you…” Harper took it, and with a short wave, Susan drifted down into the floor. Ivor was still a little confused about it.

Harper carefully leafed through the pages, searching for anything useful in this situation.

“Aha! Here it is…” Harper beamed, satisfied. “The Portal Atlas cannot track non-human entities.”

“That doesn't explain why it couldn't track Soren, though! He's human!” Ivor groaned and stomped his foot in frustration.

“...oh.” Harper could only say after a few seconds.

“There must be a different reason!” Ivor insisted, looking incredibly frustrated.

“Ivor…” Harper wasn't sure how to break the important news. “Soren wasn't exactly human…”

“What do you mean by that? He was perfectly human!”

“Let me explain.”

\--

“You found a SIREN?”

Harper stared at the half human creature doing endless circles in a small tank, looking somewhat anxious. He had ginger hair and beard, and a beautiful white and orange tail with black flecks. Harper couldn't help but feel bad for him.

“We need someone to spread the word far and wide about our games, don't we?” Cassie patted her back with a smile.

“I thought we could use a siren and transmit its voice throughout the portal network to hopefully attract anyone who wants to play!” Mevia seemed quite happy with herself as she approached the tank.

Hadrian was just carefully dragging the Command Block up to the tank. “We need to use this, though, if we want to transmit its voice that far…”

“Where did you find him…?” Harper asked, concerned for the poor thing’s safety.

“We just found a world where sirens exist and decided to take one!” Cassie explained.

“Think it's a good time to power this thing's voice up, Mevia…?” Hadrian asked as he set the Command Block down where they stood.

“We're not waiting on anything, so, let's go ahead.” Mevia nodded with a smile.

The four placed their hands on the command block at once, immediately feeling a searing pain throughout their minds. It became a bit more tame with four of them all touching it, but the power to alter reality was in their grasp, and their bodies couldn't cope very well. They needed multiple people to properly get it going.

Their minds all focused on the siren and his voice. Harper could feel the poor man's pain and fear as they did so, although the others didn't seem to feel it, despite their emotions and thoughts beginning to swirl around endlessly together.

They put their thoughts into the siren who began to howl in a hauntingly beautiful voice. It would ripple through the portal network. They struggled through the pain for a few more seconds before Harper felt an overwhelming sense of guilt and pain and had to whip her hand off. The other three quickly did so as well to avoid the pain crashing down.

The siren lay limp in the water as if recovering what they'd just done to him.

“That would have been so much easier if Otto actually agreed to help…” Cassie mumbled.

Harper was more concerned about the well being of the poor siren who was just recovering, holding his head and tapping the class towards her.

\--

It was late at night, but Harper had just dragged her workbench into the room where the other Old Builders were keeping the poor siren.

The siren was sound asleep in the tank, floating on his back in the water. The room was quiet, and Harper was just working away on a redstone block.

She was trying to make a power source of sorts, when she heard a tap on the glass. Harper ignored it, assuming the siren’s tail had just somehow slapped against the tank wall.

The tap came again, and she ignored it. She then heard a faint chime, which seemed to strike a chord in her mind, causing her to turn her head towards the tank.

The siren was awake, staring at her through the tank.

“Hello there…” Harper walked towards the tank slowly, looking at the siren up and down.

The siren raised a hand slowly before making a waving motion.

“I’m… I’m sure you’re a little dazed after being dragged away from your world.” Harper spoke sympathetically. “I’d help you get home if I could, but…”

The siren made a faint chime, making Harper’s head turn towards the redstone block she was working on.

Harper walked towards it, picking it up. “What about this…?”

The siren shut his eyes for a moment before he began to sing a sweet melody of carefully pitched and melodic chimes - causing Harper’s mind to suddenly cloud over. Her hand went to the table, picking up some of the tools she was using, and carrying them over to the tank. She stood on her toes, before dropping them in. The song quickly finished as she was shaken free from the trance.

“Hey- those are mine…” Harper spoke disappointedly, watching as the siren picked up the tools and the redstone block, beginning to work with it… She watched for a few seconds, tapping her foot as if asking for it back.

The siren glanced back at her, noticing she seemed to want it back. He began to sing again, causing Harper to move sluggishly back to her workbench, directing her hand to pick up the pencil…

By the time the song was over, she’d written a note of sorts. She blinked as she read it.

“I want to help you”

The siren was still messing with the redstone block. Harper walked back over to the tank…

“You want to help…?”

The siren grinned and nodded.

“Well… I think I should give you a name of sorts… unless, you already have one…”

The siren seemed to float upright for a moment, seeming proud. He opened his mouth and sang a short little melody. It didn’t entrance her, she noticed.

“Was that your name?” Harper held her chin thoughtfully.

The siren nodded eagerly.

“Well, it’s nice, but… I can’t pronounce it, obviously, so…” Harper tapped the ground with her foot thoughtfully before she snapped her fingers. “How about Soren? You know? Like siren? Soren?” She collapsed into a fit of laughter, snorting.

The siren nodded, seeming quite happy, even though she was treating it as a bit of a joke. Soren. Not a bad name.

\--

The two worked together for a long time, many months, Soren documenting the development of this power source in a book, while Harper did most of the work constructing it. By the time the two had it finished, they’d created a strong power source, which the two decided to name the Redstone Heart.

Soren was still sleeping in the tank, having been given a nice shirt with pockets and a scarf. He wasn’t anticipating the door to be suddenly thrown open, Harper sprinting in.

Soren woke up with a start, seeing Harper throw the Command Block down, immediately pressing her hands down on it and crying out in the searing pain it must have been inflicting on her.

He wasn’t sure what was happening, before suddenly, his tail disappeared in the blink of an eye, being replaced by two legs in a pair of jeans. He immediately felt his air supply cut off, quickly kicking to the top of the tank.

Harper held her hands on it for a few more seconds, Soren feeling some sort of knowledge pushing into his mind, before she whipped them off, hissing in pain and shaking her hands…

“Soren, we…” She grabbed the Command Block before pulling Soren out of the tank forcefully. 

Soren fell on the ground, wincing with pain before Harper held out the Command Block to him.

“Soren. Say something.” She spoke a bit harshly.

“H-hello.” Soren was surprised to hear the unfamiliar voice coming from his own mouth.

“Okay, I know this is sudden, but we have to leave. Now.” She had the Redstone Heart slung over her back in a sling of sorts. “You take the Command Block.”

“But- why?” Soren got to his feet, confused and just needing a moment to get his bearings. He could feel his siren voice box had just disappeared, along with his scales being just gone. His gills were gone too…

“There’s no time to explain, just, please follow me…”

The two crept outside in the moonlight towards the door leading to a staircase to the portal network, hopefully.

When Harper reached the door. She sighed and pushed it open.

“Just run. Pick a portal and jump in. Don’t go to the same portal as me. Hide the Command Block. Find someone to help you turn back into a siren later.” She explained before patting his back. “Thank you for all the time we've spent.”

“Thank you to you too…” Soren nodded a thankful goodbye and began to head down the staircase, the doors shutting behind him.

He heard fast footsteps in the distance behind the door and immediately broke into a sprint down the stairs.

Any portal in the hallway. Jump in. Soren thought as he glanced around the hall, feeling adrenaline in his veins. He could hear footsteps and Hadrian yelling from the staircase behind.

He bolted to one direction before spotting a portal with a wooden tree frame. That's… That's probably where he wanted to go.

As the footsteps grew louder, Soren made the quick decision to run in.

\--

Ivor was, more or less, utterly and completely shocked. Why did Soren never tell him any of this?

“I know this is a lot to take in.” Harper spoke sympathetically. “But… that still doesn't explain why the Portal Atlas can't track him, we-- they, made him a human…” She paused for a moment. “You might have to consider, he could be-”

“Soren can't be dead.” Ivor interrupted her. “He's out there. Or… we just can't give up just because he might be!”

“I don't know, Ivor, the only other thing that could have happened is he somehow turned back into a siren…” Harper told him. “The only way I think that could have happened if the Command Block was destroyed, but those are near indestructible…”

Ivor suddenly gasped. “It-- the Command Block WAS destroyed, actually-!” He felt his heart flood with hope.

“Really…?” Harper was surprised herself.

“Yes! Jesse had to destroy it to kill my-- ahem, a witherstorm.” Ivor had to catch himself for a moment. “...Soren ran off at the prospect of the Command Block being destroyed…”

“Because he knew he'd be gradually turning back into a siren…!” Harper realised. 

“Enough time to flee back into the portal network and find home…?” Ivor thought out loud.

“...Maybe, but I don't know how you'd find a single certain siren in all these worlds…”

“We just find a book about sirens and see what worlds they exist in!” Ivor was energized all of a sudden. “He could have found one of those!”

Ivor suddenly felt a presence and turned his head quickly, jumping as he saw the ghost girl from earlier floating over him, her hands in claws. She immediately relaxed and began to laugh heartily, curling up in midair…

“Susan…” Harper couldn't help but smile herself.

“Sorry, sorry, I couldn't help myself.” Susan floated upright. “Do you want to head to the section on sirens…?”

“That would be helpful.” Ivor replied.

\--

After a few long minutes of walking, they reached the siren section. Susan made small talk with Harper while she lead them there.

“There's a lounge where you can sit and read just that way.” Susan informed them, pointing down a corridor of bookshelves, before drifting back into the ground, waving as she went.

Ivor looked up and around at the shelves, each on sirens. Some books looked like novels of sorts, or manuals… He pulled a few books out at random, the ones that looked like actual nonfiction and began to walk to the lounge Susan had told them about.

The first book was a general study on anatomy and how they worked and live. Ivor felt it was a bit… dehumanizing. Diagrams of a dissected one, showing how the teeth worked, how the throat could produce special haunting sounds…

“Sailors are advised commonly to never hang chimes, bells, or any sort of instrument that can be played by the wind on their ships. Sirens have names, and they can call and summon each other from anywhere in the world to each other by singing another's name. Certain wind instruments such as these can mimic a siren’s summon and attract the threat to one's ship.”

Ivor noted this down mentally before Harper came running into the lounge with a thick book tucked under her arm.

“I found something you might want to see…” She spoke quickly and excitedly, sliding the book onto his lap.

A Study on Siren Culture Between Worlds

“Something that doesn't say sirens are all anim-” Ivor cut himself off as Harper slid her hand off the book. In the golden thread on the book cover was a name.

By Soren

“He's sure written a lot, hasn't he?” Harper smiled.

“He certainly has…” Ivor opened the cover, feeling kind of proud of Soren, wherever he was…

The author's foreword definitely sounded like something Soren would write, but the bit that drew Ivor's attention was a certain phrase:

“The culture I will be covering the most extensively will be the sirens that live in the world with an entry portal of carved sandstone, blue distortion.”

“Harper - do you think that's where Soren would be from…? Since he knows the most about this one particular place…?” Ivor looked up from the print.

“That could be worth a shot.” Harper agreed.

Ivor flicked to the last page and saw something very interesting on the back page.

“...sheet music?” Harper murmured, having sat down next to him.

“To be played on windchimes…” Ivor placed his fingers over a bit of text before suddenly remembering something.

\--

Soren spent a lot of time on a balcony on the Order hideout. The first one, just a wooden house, not too special. The wind was currently blowing through the trees and catching some wind chimes Gabriel had hung up.

Ivor pushed the doors open to head out onto the balcony, tugging at his beard. “I don't know how you can like those things…” He huffed. “If there's a windstorm we'll be awake all night…”

Soren stared up at them as the breeze softly caused the notes to play. “I quite like them anyway…”

“I don't understand you sometimes.” Ivor replied.

Soren had spent a long time on that balcony. When he was reading, drinking tea, planning his latest build, he could often be found on that balcony. It was the windchimes, he said.

\--

“Another book I read earlier said siren names and speech can sound like windchimes and be recreated with them…” Ivor whispered, tracing his fingers over the sheet music. “If we got hold of some windchimes and went to that world Soren talked about…”

“You think we could summon him like that? What if that's not his siren name? I remember it did sound like wind-”

“It has to be. Why else would he put it here?”

“Valid point…” Harper murmured before getting to her feet. “All we need is some windchimes, and we're set to summon a siren.”

\--

Ivor and Harper had later used the Portal Atlas to locate some place that sold windchimes. They had found a nice desert world with lots of markets, and according to the Atlas, wind chimes.

“This is a cool place, if you ask me…” Harper looked around at everything being sold with curiosity. Goods, food, spices… Ivor had never seen a lot of these things.

“We'll have to grab some later, it all looks amazing.” Ivor commented, trying to listen out for the sound of chimes. Eventually, he heard something and began to push his way through the crowd…

It was a small stall run by a young woman, chimes hanging everywhere of all different shapes and sizes. She looked up from her stall, looking rather bored when Ivor approached.

“Good day, sir…” She mumbled and exhaled.

Ivor looked between the chimes and quickly selected the largest one with the most pipes. “Um, that one, please.” He lightly prodded one of the pipes.

“What can you give for it?” She asked, sitting up a bit straighter.

“How about, um, 5 iron bars?” 

“Not enough…” 

“That and a Potion of Fire Resistance?” Ivor pulled one from his pocket.

“Deal.” The woman managed to break a smile. Ivor quite happily unhooked the windchimes and took them. They were now his…

\--

The portal with the sandstone frame and the blue distortion had lead Ivor and Harper to a coastal fishing village, buildings mostly built of wood with thatched roofs, a distinct smell of fish in the air, and the salty sea breeze.

“It's been too long since I've gone to a place like this…” Harper breathed it in deeply through her nose.

“Do you think the best place to summon Soren would be a quiet beach somewhere?” Ivor asked Harper who was looking around the village with curiosity.

“Oh, definitely.” Harper agreed. “Although maybe we should ask someone for directions.”

“Let's go find someone…” Ivor began to walk through the village towards the coast, glancing around at everyone. They seemed to be quite happy when he approached one man with sun bleached hair and tannish skin. The man was currently working on a basket of sorts.

The man stood up from what he was doing, placing the half woven basket at his side. “Hey, haven't seen you around…” He said curiously.

“Oh, we're not from here… we just wanted directions to the nearest quiet beach, we're trying to summon a particular siren…” Ivor explained.

“Summoning a siren, ey? Is that why you've got those windchimes?” The man looked down at the chimes tucked underneath his belt.

“Indeed I am.” Ivor tightened his belt just a little so the chimes wouldn't fall.

“I hear sirens go well with a good load of tartar sauce if they're well fried.” The man commented. Ivor was immediately shocked.

“F-fried?!”

“Yeah, it's a new thing I tried the other day.” The man leaned against a wooden post. “Regular siren and fish can get a bit… Bland and tasteless after a while.”

“We're not planning to kill the siren!” Ivor seemed offended. “I want to talk with him!”

The man snorted. “Sirens aren't human, why would you expect a conversation with one? They'd just start singing and lure you in the water to kill you.” He then shook his head. “That's every one I've seen. Savages.”

“Could you just point us in the direction of a quiet beach…?” Ivor could feel himself getting angrier by the second as he talked to this man.

“Sure, sure, whatever.” He pointed out to a rocky shore on the other side of town. “Go around the rocks and keep going around the point, there's a nice small beach there.”

“Thank you…” Ivor immediately began to head in that direction.

“Don't say I didn't warn you!” The man yelled after him before going back to his basket.

\--

As he and Harper approached the rocks, the woman stopped and sighed. “Ivor…”

“What is it…?” Ivor paused to look back at her, awkwardly standing on some rocks.

“Soren hasn’t been around any other humans for a long time, he’s probably had to revert back into… living like a siren.”

“What are you saying?”

“I'm saying he could be dangerous.” Harper said, looking concerned. “He could have reverted back to hunting humans and could hurt you if you called him.”

“He couldn't have!” Ivor loudly disagreed. “Soren wouldn't hurt a fly…”

“Look, I think I'll stay back here in this village, okay? I don't want to come face to face with a dangerous sea creatures that eats people.” Harper began to walk back to the village. 

Ivor began to feel frustrated as he walked over the shaky rocks to the point. Harper had come all this way with him, and she wasn't going to help him in any way?! 

He vented a bit of steam by kicking a rock into the water crashing on the smaller ones a few metres away. He would prove her wrong, he would prove everyone wrong.

...he hoped, at least.

Around the point was a silent beach. There wasn’t much sand, but, there was a forest behind the beach with plenty of shade and trees. Ivor approached it, finding a nice spot under a tree by close to the water.

The wind was blowing and Ivor felt like now was a good time to play the windchimes. He drew them from the belt and held them with one hand, edging to the water’s edge.

The ocean stretched as far as he could see. There were a few small nearby islands, but the water was clearly deep. He felt the waves slosh around his boots and lightly try to drag him in.

He pulled a copied down version of the sheet music from a pocket and unfolded it, looking it up and down, before slowly beginning to play the various notes to the ocean. It was a beautiful melody a few seconds long. The last note ended perfectly. What a perfect name. Or song. Whatever it was.

Ivor decided to hang the windchimes from a tree branch, going to sit in the shade. He shut his eyes and listened to the environment, the waves sloshing on the shore, birds tweeting, the breeze, and the various chimes…

\--

Soren was busy trawling the ocean floor, drifting through the kelp, flicking his koi-fish like tail. He grabbed a bit and twirled it between his fingers, before letting it go. The ocean floor was a lonely place sometimes. Nothing to do. Sometimes he would see other sirens chasing swarms of fish, or going to perch on reef rocks to sing to passing sailors. 

Many years ago before he had been taken and turned into a human, he would have happily done the same. He’d sing a beautiful haunting song then run the poor sailors aground to attack and get his night’s meal. But now, it just seemed… different. He couldn’t bring himself to do it anymore.

He drifted over a patch of red seaweed, and he dipped down to grab some of it. This stuff was kind of sweet… He had been mostly consisting off this. He missed the food back in the world he’d lived in for years. So much variety…

A part of his mind suddenly felt like it had… flicked on. He heard a distant familiar name being played - his name… Someone, somewhere was calling him.

He raised his head and immediately felt the direction come to him. It was distant, but he had to go there. Someone was calling. He grabbed the rest of the red seaweed from the rock and began to quickly swim off to wherever he was being called to.

\--

Ivor had fallen asleep under the tree. He snored before his sleep was suddenly disrupted by the windchimes suddenly making a rather high pitched note.

He slowly rubbed his eyes, needing a moment to properly wake up. He could hear seagulls and the wind… The windchimes, too. He remembered he’d never liked windchimes… 

The light was getting low, and the sky had turned orange as the sun slowly set. The air still felt rather empty.

Ivor forced himself to get to his feet, a bit difficult with his knees, and went to the water’s edge… The water was still and lifeless.

He looked to the horizon and around the area. How long had it been since he called Soren…? It had been… six hours or more? Was he even going to come? Was he somehow dead…?

Ivor stomped his foot down in the wet sand and yelled “SOREN!” to the ocean, beginning to grind his boot into the ground. His hands were in fists and oddly enough he felt like tears were coming to his eyes. No, that couldn’t be right, he didn’t cry. “S-Soren, just....” He found himself dropping to his knees and placing his hands in the sand before he felt two hands close around his wrists.

He didn’t have a chance to react before being pulled into the water swiftly, hit by salt that burned his eyes. He almost yelled in surprise, suddenly feeling he was already out of his depth…

He struggled but felt his hands suddenly free, instead having an arm wrapped around his back and being suddenly pulled close to whatever had him. Ivor couldn't see but suddenly felt someone's soft lips on his as he was held tightly underwater.

Whatever was holding him resurfaced. Ivor was just rather confused, his hair everywhere. He treaded water and rubbed his eyes before whoever else was there parted his hair and quickly flipped it back.

“Um… are you okay?” 

The familiar voice came as Ivor opened his eyes, seeing Soren's face with a huge grin in front of him.

“Soren…” Ivor was, quite frankly, in shock.

“You really didn't have to yell, you know…” Soren laughed nervously.

\--

The sun was setting and Ivor’s first matter of business was dig into a hill next to the water to create a sort of cave and a door. The walk back to the town would take too long and the sun would have long set by then. He didn’t want to get caught by any monsters or anything.

Soren was sitting on the rocks and watching. “You’ll make something proper tomorrow, won’t you…?” He wrung his hands. “The dirt look… really bothers me.”

“I will, I just need a quick shelter…” He sighed before looking back at the water. Soren had pushed himself out of the water so he was laying on his stomach on the rocks, just watching him build. The end of his tail was in the air and Ivor couldn’t help but stare. It was glistening in the last shreds of daylight, white, orange, and black blemishes. 

“Is… is the tail weird?” Soren seemed to notice and seemed to lay it down self consciously.

“No, I’m just not… used to seeing you like that.” Ivor murmured. “But, it’s still magnificent…”

“Being home is nice, but, I think I miss being on land with everyone…” Soren commented.

“...I just can hardly believe my significant other is a siren.” Ivor exhaled.

“I… I just didn’t think anyone would ever look for me, let alone actually find me…” Soren replied… 

Ivor’s eyes were suddenly caught as a sliver of the moon came over the horizon… “Well… I think it’s best if I retire for the night…”

Soren seemed to understand. “Oh…” He slid back into the water by pushing himself back on the sand. “...will I see you tomorrow, then?”

“Of course…” Ivor replied before abruptly shutting the door to the hideout he’d built. Soren couldn’t help but faintly smile. Someone had cared enough to come and find him.

He dipped back into the ocean and twirled as he swam to the depths, a smile on his face…

\--

The next morning, just after the sun had risen, Harper had set out across the rocks from the small village to try and find wherever Ivor had gone off too. She was rather worried… Mostly about why Ivor hadn’t come back.

As she went around the point, she could see the beach and the forest behind it. She also noticed a door wedged somewhere in the dirt hillside around the rocks on the other side of the beach...

She approached it, her eyes going to the windchimes hanging from a tree. The morning was still, so they were silent…

“Um… Ivor?” Harper slowly opened the door to look inside seeing. Ivor was curled up on the ground in the corner…

He woke with a start, shielding his eyes from the sudden light… Harper stood in the newly created entrance, looking relieved…

“I thought you’d somehow been snatched off by a siren…” Harper said in a relieved tone.

Ivor sat up and rubbed his eyes before slowly getting up, wincing painfully due to his knees and slowly walked out of the opening. “Good… good morning…” He murmured.

“So… any luck…?” Harper asked him curiously. She wondered if Soren would be nearby if he had been successful.

“Yes, actually…!” Ivor clasped his hands together with a big smile. 

“Oh…!” Harper smiled herself. “Was… was he savage?”

“No, no, of course not…” Ivor seemed offended, folding his arms. “He said he’d come today.”

Right on timing, there was a splash from the water. Ivor turned his head immediately to see Soren partially poking out of the water.

“Soren! I just told her you’d come back!” Ivor went down to the wet rocks, kneeling down as Soren pushed himself up from the water.

“Aha! There’s the man we were looking for!” Harper grinned and approached him.

Soren glanced over at Harper, recognising her immediately. “...Harper? You too? I haven’t seen you in, forever!”

“It’s nice to see you again.” Harper greeted him.

“...I still kind of can’t believe you slept in THAT thing.” Soren announced, leaning around him to look at the literal cave in the hill he’d dug.

“What? I needed to make a shelter!” Ivor folded his arms.

“Yes, but that’s how savages live! In dirt houses dug into hills!” Soren was unimpressed, obviously.

“You're a siren!” Ivor replied. “Do sirens even have houses?!”

“You two…” Harper interrupted them both. “Stop arguing about houses, we need to focus on more important things…”

“Like what…?” Soren asked, leaning on the rock.

“What to do from here.” Harper explained. “You've reunited, so what now…?”

“... I'd like to see if we could give Soren legs again so he can come back with us to my world.” Ivor suggested.

“I have missed your world…” Soren replied in a soft tone. “It's not as exciting here…”

“That might take a while, trying to find a way to get Soren, back to nor- I mean, back to human…” Harper scratched her neck a bit awkwardly.

“Can we improve your atrocity of a house, then…?” Soren huffed. He wasn't called Soren the Architect for no reason.

“Sounds like a good plan for the day.” Harper decided.

“Although, um…” Ivor interjected. “Before we do any of that, could we find a shirt for Soren?” He fidgeted…

“Oh, um…” Soren suddenly seemed rather embarrassed, curling up slightly on the rock.

“I'll go back into town and see if they have anything…” Harper decided.

\--

Soren found himself decorating the outside of the house with whatever shells or pretty pieces of coral he could find, along with a few well placed tufts of seagrass. Ivor was properly working on the inside of the house, making functional rooms while Harper gathered materials. About noon, Ivor heard Soren calling his name and went to the door.

Ivor opened the front door to see Soren sitting there. 

“Is your floor still dirt?” The siren asked, unimpressed.

“Well, yes, but-”

“Ugh.” Soren buried his face in his hands. “The floor is incredibly important at making it look nice!”

“Yes, I was just--”

Harper cut him off. “I had a great idea.” She turned Ivor around by the shoulder, grinning.

“What's the idea, Harper…?” Ivor asked.

“I was thinking, you and Soren would still be separated with this house, but, we could mine some of the rock underneath the house to make an area filled with water, and make a glass floor here - that way you could still interact.” Harper gave her idea with gestures and a proud smile.

“That's a great idea, actually.” Ivor was kind of amazed.

“Do you have a pickaxe of sorts…?” Soren asked… “If, if any of you do I could start making that…”

“I sure do!” Harper took a diamond pickaxe from her inventory and passed it to Soren, who quietly thanked her.

“I'll just make a start on that…” Soren smiled at the tool before moving into the water to start digging.

“Will that take long…?” Ivor asked…

“He’s got a diamond pick, probably not.” Harper replied before going to the door. “I'll go find some sand to make into glass.”

“I'll just… do something about the walls.” Ivor looked at the still dirt walls. Soren would be very very upset if he saw these.

\--

Within a few hours, the glass floor was down and Soren had dug the rock away to make the water area underneath the house. Ivor had left a few holes in certain places, but it was essentially perfect. Harper had put in a bathroom, a kitchen, a brewing room, and a bedroom. All of which had the glass floor.

Ivor knelt by the one of the holes in the glass floor, Soren popping up with a smile.

“This was a great idea.” He greeted.

“Indeed.” Ivor agreed.

\--

Ivor was curled up fast asleep in bed, the room dimly lit by a glowstone lamp on a bedside table, although it was more a slab of wood. He’d made the walls wooden so Soren would leave him alone about the dirt. It was a little weird sleeping above a glass floor, but not unusual.

The sun had set and Soren swam from his underwater area, out the tunnel and into the open water. The open water was a lot colder, he found. But, he had something very important to do he did each night. He’d have normally done this at other beaches, but he was going to do it here as well.

He popped his head out of the water, beginning to breathe through lungs rather than gills. It felt good to use them, really. He felt human. His eyes were fixed on the dark beach, where he could see a herd of tall dark figures standing, all about three metres tall.

Soren, fascinated silently went through the water to get a closer look. Endermen. How interesting!

The endermen herd seemed to be having a good time. Soren had learned from many years of studying them how to read their emotions from subtle facial expressions and gestures.

He watched them construct something with the wet sand and couldn’t help but grin before seeing one teleport towards the rocks where Ivor’s house was. His smile faded and he swam to follow it a few inches closer, before watching the herd slowly teleport around the door. Oh dear.

Soren immediately ducked under the water, going through the water as fast as he possibly could towards the tunnel. 

Ivor was curled up fast asleep in bed when the herd of endermen began to crowd in his room, just staring.

Soren ripped through the underwater area, popping out of a hole in the glass floor in Ivor’s room, staring up at the endermen sternly. They couldn’t touch him from the water.

He could see one of them reaching a long black spindly arm to Ivor’s head, and he immediately acted on instinct, opening his mouth and letting out a haunting melodic cry.

The endermen froze in place, suddenly turning their gazes to him. Soren continued to sing, watching them slowly mill out of the room in a robotic sleepy fashion. 

He even made them shut the door behind them. His voice faded off and he couldn’t help but feel relieved…

“Soren…” Ivor’s voice came from his bed, and Soren almost jumped in shock.

Ivor was sitting up in bed, holding his blankets up, looking over at him. “Was… was that you singing?”

“It… it was…” Soren murmured, pushing himself out of the opening to sit on the floor, with his tail still in the water.

“It was beautiful.” Ivor sleepily smiled, rubbing his eyes… “I mean, I haven’t heard you sing with that voice before…”

“Oh… thank you…” Soren looked down, his face a bit pink.

“You wouldn’t mind singing just a bit more, would you…?” Ivor lay down again, pulling the covers over himself.

“I wouldn’t mind at all…” Soren replied before beginning to sing a wonderful sweet melody, sounding much like amplified windchimes.

Ivor immediately felt rather sleepy, and fully safe. He felt his eyes lulling shut after a mere few seconds, but the siren kept singing for a minute or two just to make sure he could get to sleep just fine.

By the time Soren finished, he could hear Ivor snoring from his bed. He took a few moments to observe him, the way his hair was strewn everywhere, how peaceful his face was, how his chest slowly rose and fell. He couldn’t help but smile before sliding down back into the water to go sleep in his underwater area.

\--

The next morning, Ivor was just sitting on the side of the bathtub, running warm water in it. He held his hand underneath the water flow and quietly hummed, before hearing a little splash from the corner where the opening to the underwater area was.

“Um…” Soren asked, leaning over onto the floor. “...are you running a bath or something?”

“What else could I be doing…?” Ivor replied.

Soren awkwardly wrung his hands. “Err… could, could I join you, m-maybe…?” He asked in a quiet voice. “I mean… physical contact is nice, isn’t it?”

“I mean, if you’d like to.” Ivor replied, in a similarly quiet tone.

\--

The two were shortly both in the water, Soren hugging Ivor warmly, his head against his chest. Ivor was just quietly happy Soren had this idea - they needed to cuddle somehow…

Ivor was just touching his tail and softly stroking it, the scales had an odd feel to them, but not unpleasant. He was curious.

“So… you came… all the way here just to find me…? Why?” Soren asked, the end of his tail in the air and out of the bath.

“Because…” Ivor spoke but couldn’t respond. He didn’t like talking about things like this, it was kind of awkward. His face was just a bit pink.

“Because…?” Soren turned his face towards his own with a faint smile.

“...gah, I came all the way here because-- because…” Ivor had to stop speaking for a few seconds. Soren just looked him deeply in the eye.

“-because I love you.” Ivor managed to say, quietly.

The moment Ivor managed to say it, Soren immediately deeply kissed him. Ivor couldn't help but return it, his eyes fluttering shut.

\--

The next day, the sun was high in the sky and Soren had been carried underneath a shady tree. Ivor had set up a little picnic and made some sandwiches and made some cake. The two were just having a nice day together, before Harper came rushing over from town.

“You two!” Harper was beaming. “I think I’ve figured out a way how to give Soren legs again!” She looked down at their picnic, the nice sandwiches and the cake...

“Want a slice?” Soren held out a plastic plate with a slice of cake.

“Thank you, Soren.” Harper took the plate. “You remember the Great Library, Ivor?”

“Of course,” Ivor replied, taking a large mouthful of cake.

“They have a command block there we could borrow!” Harper pointed out. “If we could just start searching for the exit portal, we could go through it, bring the command block back here, then turn Soren back into a human, then go back through the exit portal-”  
“We could bring him home!” Ivor was delighted, lightly clapping his hands and bouncing where he sat.

“Although… I don’t know where we could start looking for an exit portal… No one in the village seems to know…” Harper sighed, shaking her head slowly.

“I… What does an exit portal look like?” Soren leaned against the tree, stroking his beard.

“Think of a grand portal of sorts.” Ivor explained. “We have a portal key to open it, but we don’t know where to find it…”

“I think I may have an idea, actually.” Soren murmured. “But… one problem…”

“It’s underwater, isn’t it?” Harper groaned.

“Indeed…” Soren nodded solemnly. “It’s a bit of a long swim away, but there’s a city surrounding it, my home city, actually.”

“Oh! You did write that book on siren civilization, didn’t you?!” Ivor recalled excitedly.

“You-- you found that?” Soren scratched his head.

“It helped us a lot at finding you, actually. When did you have the time to write it…?” Ivor leaned into him.

“When I was searching for my homeworld…” Soren replied. “I had enough time to write it and get back home before the night I, well, turned back into this.” He raised his tail and defeatedly smiled.

“So, the exit portal is underwater…” Harper grit her teeth frustratedly… “In a city of sirens. Killing machines.”

“You do have potions of invisibility and water breathing, do you not?” Soren questioned Ivor.

“A few left…” Ivor replied, he usually kept a few on hand.

“How about I take both you two down, then?” Soren shuffled a little on the grass. He’d obviously need carrying back to the water…

“Now?” Harper shuffled a little. She probably wasn’t too keen about being surrounded by sirens.

“If you’re comfortable…” Soren spoke a little bit more quietly.

“Come on, Harper…” Ivor folded his arms. “Soren will keep us safe, won’t you?”

“I will.” Soren agreed, although he looked apprehensive.

Ivor had to go to a kneeling position, picking Soren up slowly, holding him under the tail and his back.

Soren allowed himself to be lifted, leaning into Ivor’s chest as he was carried back to the water. Ivor knelt in the water and let Soren swim out of his arms....

Harper waded into the water and awkwardly kicked at a rock before Ivor handed her a potion.

“It’s a potion of waterbreathing. Drink it.” Ivor took another one from his pocket and downed that one quickly before grabbing two potions of invisibility as well.

Harper was a bit reluctant but quickly downed both as Soren took one of their hands each.

He was shortly pulling them through the water. “This might take a while.” He apologised. “Just… enjoy the underwater scenery!”

Harper took a while to actually stop holding her breath and actually start breathing, although Ivor had started doing it immediately. It felt a little strange, the heavy liquid slowly entering his lungs and circulating around his body instead of air…

While they were enjoying the scenery, still clutching Soren’s hand tightly, he began to notice a few more sirens in the area. They’d been swimming for a while…

“Nearly there…” Soren murmured to them both, invisible but hanging onto him.

They approached what seemed to be an underwater town, swarming with sirens all swimming around going about their daily business. Most of them seemed civilized, although, it appeared they hadn’t gotten to the point of development where they would build cities…

Ivor felt his mind suddenly feel rather fuzzy as Soren approached the town. He could hear the quiet melodic voices of hundreds of sirens… As they got louder, he felt his grip on Soren’s hand loosening. Maybe he should just let go… He’d be fine…

He immediately felt Soren squeeze his hand incredibly tightly, beginning to swim a bit faster.

At the very centre of the town plaza, there was a familiar looking arch like structure. Harper lightly gasped as she saw it.

“The exit portal…” She whispered to Ivor slowly, her mind feeling foggy with the endless plinks and chirps of the sirens surrounding them.

“I have the key, let me just…” Ivor reached into his pocket with his free hand as Soren approached it, pausing in front of the underwater structure.

“I’ll swim back to the beach and wait for you there, okay?” Soren whispered, trying to look as unsuspicious as possible, even though there was floating flint and steel being held by an invisible person in front of him.

“We’ll be back soon.” Ivor whispered, before taking a deep breath of the water and striking the flint and steel together in front of the portal, causing a flash of light to rip through the water as the portal opened.

It seemed like every siren suddenly let out a cry, causing both Ivor and Harper to freeze, the invisibility potion wearing off at the worst moment. 

The two ended up quietly floating there in the water, half entranced. Soren shoved them both into the portal before zipping up towards the surface, ending up airborne for a moment. He inhaled raw air through his lungs, feeling the sea breeze on his face, before plunging back down into the water. That was a lot of fun.

He swam as fast as he possibly could, twirling through the water almost like a torpedo. He was going to get back to the beach was fast as possible and hope no one was chasing him.

\--

Soren shortly arrived back at the island where he’d been staying with Ivor, appearing above the water to see a human coastal town.

He smiled faintly and swam closer. He hadn’t seen a human settlement in forever, and truth be told, he sort of missed human architecture. He hadn’t ever had much luck with them socially, but back before he lived in the End, sometimes he’d like to go to cafes and sit in the corner alone, quite happily sipping tea.

He went to the rocks to get a closer look at the humans, lightly sighing. Soon he’d have legs again and he’d be able to walk up there and see the sights again with Ivor.

A man was just walking by the rocks, shirtless and wearing some shorts, gripping a spear. The man’s eyes turned to Soren, perched on the rocks, and he immediately gripped the spear threateningly.

Soren shrunk down before diving back into the water. Not yet, he guessed.

He went back to the beach where Ivor had his house, deciding to sit on the sand by the water. The sun was setting and it was setting the sky in oranges and pinks and purples. He sighed, wishing Ivor was here to see it. Very very soon.

\--

As the sun went down, Soren lazily swam through the water over to the house. He pushed himself up onto the rocks, deciding he’d sleep under the stars. The water sloshed up onto his tail and he smiled, laying his head down and slowly shutting his eyes.

\--

Ivor and Harper were just quickly being guided by the Atlas to the Great Library. Ivor was jogging along the way while Harper just powerwalked behind him.

“I can’t wait to show Soren the house I made…” Ivor spoke excitedly. “Have you seen it, Harper?”

“I haven’t seen your world at all.” Harper replied, laughing.

“Oh. It’s a big magnificent skull tower with lava pouring out of it! It’s majestic.” Ivor explained, clapping his hands and doing a little jump.

“You’ll have to show me some time.” Harper replied.

\--

The two entered the Great Library, and almost immediately, Susan came up from the floor. “You’re back!” She greeted with a big smile, hugging a thick book to her chest.

“Indeed we are…” Harper got up, dusting herself off from the fall while Ivor stared out at the endless bookshelf labyrinth.

“Is there anything you need…?” She drifted back in midair. “Did you find that siren you were looking for?”

“We did, but we need a way to make him into a human.” Ivor explained to the spirit.

“Oh…” Susan murmured. “I don’t think-”

“You have a command block here, right? We just need to borrow it.” Harper folded her arms. “It’s urgent.”

“I can get it for you, but it might be a bit difficult… and you have to bring it back!” Susan folded her arms as well.

“Whatever it takes.” Ivor mumbled.

Susan began to lead them through the library’s labyrinths. “It’s… It’s a long walk…” She quietly said.

“How long exactly?” Ivor asked her.

“I… I don’t know, but it might be a few hours.” Susan said regretfully. 

\--

It was very early in the morning when Soren was awoken by the wind blowing on his face. His eyes slowly drifted open, seeing it was still mostly dark. The horizon was turning somewhat grey, showing sunrise was a few hours away…

He sat up on the rocks, shivering. It would be warmer in the water… Ivor wasn’t anywhere in sight. He exhaled sadly before curling up on the rocks, looking around on the beach…

Soren heard some strange shuffling above him and looked up at the dirt cliff-face. There were trees and bushes atop it…

It was probably the wind. Soren curled up again before suddenly a spear whizzed through the air from above and thunked down on the rock beside him, causing him to jump in surprise.

“You MISSED! You MISSED an unmoving target!” Came a yell from above, followed by swift footsteps and the sound of boots sliding down dirt. It sounded like there were multiple people running down the side of the hill and onto the beach…!

Soren immediately leapt into the water, diving down deep. He could hear footsteps and yelling above the water, apparently multiple people had come for him for some reason…

The siren popped out of the water, seeing about five people all with weapons wading through the water.

“Look-- there he is! The siren I saw! He must have been the one stealing our fish from the nets!” One man pointed and yelled, beginning to push through the water to try and get to him.

Soren ducked underwater and zipped as fast as he possibly could to the tunnel half hidden by the rocks, grabbing a rock and pulling it in front of the entrance. He swam to the corner of his underwater area and curled up, looking afraid.

\--

Susan drifted behind a wall and came back a few seconds later, holding the Command Block. She held it out to Harper with a warm smile. “Just be sure to bring it back.” 

“Thank you.” Harper took it, grinning at her back.

“It’s kind of early in the morning…” Ivor rubbed his eyes. 

“Can we head back quickly?” He asked.

“Of course.” Harper put it in her inventory while Susan began to lead them back quickly. Ivor somehow felt like they should walk faster…

\--

Soren pushed the furniture he’d placed in his room through the tunnel to try and block out the people trying to come in. They hadn’t found the tunnel, but he could still hear them searching outside and their voices outside.

He curled up in the corner, feeling his heart beating rapidly…

One man stared in the door of the strange house he’d found, peering in through a hole and seeing the floor was made of glass.

He pushed the door open and looked down at the floor, seeing the underwater area beneath the glass. He lay down on the floor and looked down at one of the openings, seeing the siren curled up in the corner looking terrified.

“The siren’s in here!” The man yelled, calling to his friends. Soren immediately zipped to the blocked tunnel entrance, trying to pull away the things, looking terrified. They were just too heavy.

Soren paused for a moment before resorting to howling as loud as possible in siren fashion. He stared up at the people all on the glass floor above, his howl petering off as he saw each of them wearing earplugs.

\--

Ivor ran with the Command Block around the rocks with a grin. Soren was going to have legs very soon. He grinned before seeing men crowding inside the house from a distance.

“Why are those people just crowding into your house?!” Harper yelled as she ran behind him.

“I-I don’t know!” Ivor yelled back before running faster. As he approached, he heard a loud siren howl from Soren. He stumbled a little, slowing down before it petered out. He could just… tell he sounded terrified.

Ivor ran as fast as he possibly could, jumping onto the rocks and awkwardly losing his balance for a moment. “HEY! What are you DOING?!” He yelled, trying to drag one of them by the arm.

“There’s a siren down there underneath your glass floor.” The man looked back, staring at him.

“And you’re crowding into my house because of it?!” Ivor yelled, stomping his foot.

“We’ll just kill it for you.” The man rolled his eyes.

“NO!” Ivor suddenly yelled. “He-- he wouldn’t hurt a fly!” He tried to kick the man before getting shoved back onto the rocks…

Harper grabbed the command block, having placed it down. “Ivor! If we try to give him legs-”

Ivor without even thinking, just slammed his hands down onto it. He’d felt this before. He began to feel every scream and every laugh in the world, his vision disappearing in what looked like tears in his vision, bright red, yellow, blue, purple. He felt like he was boiling alive yet freezing. 

“Ivor--!” Harper yelled but couldn’t stop him, and she knew Ivor couldn’t hear him. His face was screwed up.

Soren had been forced out of the water and curled up in the corner of a room, trying to hold the door shut. He was holding back tears while a man tried to kick the door down. Why were they so hungry for his blood?

Ivor found Soren somehow in the command block, going through the man’s code as quickly as possible until he found the line he was looking for. It was going to be incredibly difficult to change even just one thing--

class(siren)

Ivor’s hands were shaking as he held his hands down on it, feeling as if his mind was being torn to shreds. He changed each letter one by one to “human”.

The door broke open before the room was lit with a blinding light, the men all cowering with fear and covering their eyes. 

The light dissipated, Soren curled up on the ground, his beautiful white and orange tail with black blotches having disappeared, but replaced with legs. He was human.

The men kind of stared awkwardly for a few seconds, shuffling and mumbling around themselves before being pushed aside.

“Excuse me, excuse me…” Ivor pushed through them all in his own house before seeing Soren awkwardly curled up on the floor, completely naked, staring up at him.

“U-um--”

“Will you avert your eyes?! Have some decency!” Ivor yelled at them before shoving them out and shutting the door.

“I can’t… I can’t believe I can actually walk again…” Soren had a slow grin appear on his face, even though he was still feeling rather awkward.

The two both heard a knock on the door and Harper’s voice from behind it.

“Did… did it work?” Harper asked through the door.

“It did!” Ivor clapped his hands and jumped excitedly. “Although… could you go into the village and get this man some clothes, please…?”

“I will…” Harper laughed before footsteps could be heard going out the door.

Ivor felt a hand on his shoulder before being turned around and kissed deeply on the lips by Soren, who was wrapping his arms around him tightly. Ivor felt his eyes flutter shut as he returned it…

\--  
It was night in Beacon Town when Soren fell flat on his face out of thin air in the New Order Temple.

He got to his feet slowly, rubbing his head and looking around slowly at all the treasure collected on their pedestals.

“Magnificent, isn’t it…?” Ivor walked up behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“The world’s… okay after the Witherstorm…?” Soren asked him shyly.

“Well, there’s still a lot of rebuilding projects going on, but… Tomorrow is Founders Day.” Ivor weakly smiled. “I think we can hide from the crowds in my place.”

“Wasn’t that-”

“It used to celebrate, well, the Old Order’s achievements, but it’s sort of become a thing where they celebrate the New Order.” Ivor scratched his head.

Soren rubbed his eyes. “I… I don’t think I can deal with crowds of humans tomorrow, I’m… exhausted.”

“I need to show you my place, then!” Ivor jumped excitedly and began to pull him out of the room by his hand.

\--

As Soren got lead outside, he just paused upon seeing the town. His eyes took in the night, seeing endless buildings of many different types and styles, all clashed together in one city.

“Who… who built all this?” Soren turned up his nose. “There’s… Markus Persson, there’s not one common theme or colour scheme anywhere in sight!”

“The Hero in Residence allows everyone to build whatever they want without restriction!” Ivor explained with a smile. 

“And it created this mess…” Soren mumbled disapprovingly.

“It’s a mess, but it’s a magnificent mess, wouldn’t you agree?”

“I don’t.” Soren glared.

“I’ll just show you around, this is a great place…” Ivor linked arms with him and began to forcibly pull him through the night streets.

The night streets were a bit better, Soren adjusting to the place by finding comfort in the fact the streets were well maintained and regular. He was still rather disappointed, though, no matter how much Ivor tried to convince him it was great.

“What house here is yours…?” 

“Oh, it’s this one!” Ivor pointed up to a gigantic skull tower with vines hanging off and lava pouring out the mouth. Soren just stopped right in his tracks.

“You BUILT this?!” Soren sounded offended.

“Come on, Soren, it’s a giant skull tower! With lava!” Ivor glared.

“I suppose it’s better than some of the other houses here.” Soren mumbled.

“Let me show you what it’s like inside…” Ivor lead him to the ladder...

Soren climbed up the ladder to the house while Ivor admired the rest of the town with a big smile...

The inside of the skull tower was filled with bookshelves, a brewing area, a lounge area near the bookshelves, and a nice warm bed to curl up in. The room was lit by lavaflow on the roof contained in some glass which flowed outside. Soren looked around the room, putting his hands on his hips.

“Well, it’s a bit better inside...” Soren commented. 

“I worked hard on it.” Ivor replied, before flopping down on the bed, completely exhausted. 

“Could-- Could I join you there?” Soren crept a bit closer.

“Of course…” Ivor got under the covers, laying down and staring up quietly. A few moments later, he felt Soren beside him.

He felt Soren’s arms around him warmly, and a weak smile came to his face. He felt a leg around him, as well, being warmly squeezed.

“...how long has it been since we did this?” Ivor whispered.

“Too long…” Soren replied, softly kissing his hair.

Ivor briefly shuffled over in his arms to look him in the eyes. His hair was kind of everywhere and Soren pushed it out of his face.

“You do have a nice face…” Soren whispered before deeply kissing him. Ivor held him tightly and returned the kiss...

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you very much for reading! If you enjoyed, do not hesitate to leave a Kudos or a comment. <3


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